Colossians 2:13

13. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;

Translation and Paraphrase

13. And (to make clear what I refer to by your being raised up by baptism,) when you were (spiritually) dead because of the trespasses (you had once) and (because of) the uncircumcision of your flesh (you being outside of the covenant), he (God) made you alive together with him (Christ; and this he did by) graciously forgiving you all your misdeeds.

Notes

1.

Colossians 2:13 gives us a word picture of Christ making dead people alive. It grows out of the remarks in Colossians 2:12 about our being raised with Christ. The resurrection Paul speaks of is not the resurrection of the body from the grave, although it is plainly taught in numerous places in the scripture. The resurrection under discussion is the new life we live following our baptism.

2.

Two things are mentioned by Paul as having caused us to be dead spiritually:

(1) Our trespasses (or sins, or misdeeds); Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 2:5.

(2) The uncircumcision of our flesh. In O.T. times uncircumcised people were cut off from God's covenant with Abraham. (Genesis 17:14). Thus the Gentiles, who were uncircumcised, were outside of God's covenant, and in this sense DEAD. Death in the scripture never implies an end to existence, or unconsciousness, or annihilation. To be cut off from God, who is life, is to be dead, whether we are in sin in this world, or in the lake of fire to come. (Revelation 20:14-15.)

3.

Paul identifies our being made alive with Christ as being caused by, or synonymous with, or simultaneous to, God's having forgiven us our trespasses. Too few people sense the DEAD-liness of sin, or the resurrection-reality in salvation. Compare notes on Colossians 1:11.

Study and Review

27.

What two things caused us to be dead? (Colossians 2:13)

28.

Why would the uncircumcision of our flesh cause us to be spiritually dead?

29.

What act of God is associated with his making us alive in Christ? (Colossians 2:13)